Esports Authority Report: March 22

23 Mar , 2018

Welcome to the first edition of the Authority Report. Each week we will dive into the latest esports news so you can stay on top of your favorite games, even if you were too busy to catch all the action yourself. There’s a lot to cover this week so let’s get you up to speed.

Call of Duty World League

After back to back action packed lan weekends in Toronto and Atlanta Call of Duty is finally returning to conclude Stage 1 of the CWL. With Group A already being decided we have just been waiting on Group B to play out for us to have the final 8 teams that will qualify for the playoff portion.

Group B has been has exciting and competitive as anybody could hope for with seven of the eight teams still vying for a playoff spot with only a handful of games remaining. Splyce currently holds the final playoff spot over Evil Geniuses due to having beaten them in their first matchup but with identical records (5-6) and another match between the two to be played Splyce must perform the same way to retain the spot.

eUnited and Unilad Esports will put even more pressure on Splyce and EG to perform in their final matches as they too boast 5 wins on the season, but have lost an extra match giving them one less game to work with in the final days.

Action resumes at 4PM EST today (Wednesday) on twitch and wraps up on Thursday.

With only three teams qualifying for the Stage 2 playoffs, New York, London and Seoul continue to be the heavy favourites having combined for only 12 losses on the season (half of which have come against each other).

Despite looking like the best Western team in Stage 1 and managing to sneak into the playoffs during the Stages final week, the Houston Outlaws have struggled in Stage 2 and this was only further accentuated last week with losses against both Boston and the Los Angeles Gladiators.

As a result of their disappointing performance this stage only Philadelphia and the Los Angeles Valiant have a chance to steal the third spot, but need a perfect week and require Seoul or London to go 0-2 on the week, which is not very likely. Philadelphia and the Valiant will square off this week so only one of them will have any opportunity to make it into the final three.

The MUL is over halfway through its 2018 Season which means things are becoming even more intense as competitors seek to make it to the final tournament at the NFL Draft in April where $500 000 will be on the line.

You can catch all the action from the League live each week on twitch,youtube or mixer at 5PM EST every saturday for the next 4 weeks, or catch the highlights on DisneyXD and ESPN2 (check tv guides for listings) on Thursdays.

Mavs Gaming were fortunate enough to walk away with the first overall pick and owner Mark Cuban was obviously excited about the prospects for his team and the first season of the league.

“We are very much looking forward to putting together the best possible team and organization for the first game in May. We think the NBA 2K League is going to have an incredible first season,”

It’s hard to fault Cuban for his positive outlook. 2K has taken giant steps this year in pushing the esports aspect of their title and by all accounts it seems to have worked. Tremendous interest was generated being covered by mainstream outlets such as Forbes and a staggering 72 000 players qualified for the combine process which selected the final 102 players.

The draft will take place April 4th at the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden’s lobby at 1PM EST. Make sure to tune in live to catch all of the action; we will be sure to update you once more information on how to watch is released . The full draft order is below.